Earth scraper with retractable scarifier



Dec. 23, 1958 M. c. DAVIS EI'AL 2,365,117

EARTH SCRAPER WITH RETRACTABLE SCARIFIER Filed Feb. 10, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheer. 1

I N V EN TORJ' MQRRI: C. Dawsunse Ravens/AN Par 6 Gnn/va/v Dem 1958 M. c. DAVIS ET AL EARTH SCRAPER WITH RETRACTABLE SCARIFIER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 10, 1956 INVENTORJ CLO/310s PIRR rnnu B Y G mvmv yflwy ilnited States Patent Q EARTH SCRAPER WITH RETRACTABLE SCARIFIER Morris C. Davis, Norwalk, Butler Perryman, Santa Ana, and Roy C. Gannon, El Monte, Califi, assignors to Earthcavator Company, Inc, a corporation of California Application February. 10, 1956, Serial No. 564,707

2 Claims. (Cl. 37-145) This invention relates to earth scrapers and particularly to combination earth scrapers and scarifiers as typified by Patent No. 2,578,131, issued December 11, 1951, to Roy C. Gannon.

Earth scrapers of the typeshown in'the above patent are used widely for landscaping, gardening, and'other projects involving the moving of relatively sm'alljamounts of earth. In using such a combination scraper and scarifier in landscaping an area of ground near a building, such as in the typical residence landscaping problem, when the scraper is rotated to permit earth scraping or backfilling, the position of the scarifier teeth is such as to restrict, undesirably, the closeness of which the device may be backed up to a building. In other words, in many situations it is desirable for the operator of the tractor to push a small amount of dirt up to within a few inches of a building or to commence removing earth at a point very near to a building. With the teeth of the scraper shown in Patent No. 2,578,131 projecting rearwardly of the scraper bucket, when the bucket is rotated to fill with dirt, it is not possible to bring the scraper closer than a few feet from the building.

This invention relates to a combination earth scraper and scarifier which may be brought up virtually in contact with the building in the above problem, and which, in addition, is capable of backfilling and scarifying when the occasion warrants same.

Other scraper blades in the past have been fitted with scarifier teeth permanently mounted ahead of the scraper blade. Such a scraper blade scarifier tooth combination is not ideal because of the fact that typically the operator does not wish to scarify at all times and furthermore the position of the scarifier teeth, in previously known scarifier scraper combinations has been such as to interfere with the free filling of the bucket and have also tended to restrict the amount of earth which the bucket could carry.

This invention contemplates a combination earth scarifier and scraper which carries retractable teeth which are easily retracted manually out of interference with the contents of the scraper bucket and which may be locked into a position to scarify.

"It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a novel combination earth scraper and scarifier.

It is another object of this invention to provide an earth scraper having retractable scarifier teeth.

it is another object of this invention to provide, in a combination earth scraper and scarifier, a mechanism for inserting into operating position and retracting a series of scarifier teeth with minimum operator effort.

Other objects of invention will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is an end View of the invention,

Fig. 2 is a partial front view of the invention, and

Fig. 3 is an end view of the invention, partly in section, showing the scarifier teeth in operating position.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a scraper bucket 1, having end portions 2 and 3 and blade portion 4 securely welded together as shown. Extending between end portions 2 and 3 is a cylindrical shaft 5 which is fixed at both ends to end portions 2 and 3. Angle members 6 and 7 are welded or otherwise secured to shaft 5, and collar 6a, together with a corresponding collar at the other end of shaft 5, is rotatably mounted upon shaft 5. Collars 6a are secured to angle brackets 7a which in turn support scarifier bar *8. Scarifier bar 8 contains a plurality of scarifier teeth 9 locked to the scarifier bar as indicatedin the cutaway view of Fig. 3 or many other convenient or practicable manner.

Angle member 10 is welded to the upper rear of blade I 4 for rigidity and angle member 11 is welded to the lower rear portion of the blade to provide structural support for backfill blade 12 rotatably mounted by hinge 13 to the rear of blade 4, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3.

Bracket 14 is attached to scarifier bar 3 as shown in Figs. land 3 and is connected rotatably by pin 15 to lever 16, which in turn, at the other end thereof, is rotatably connected by 'pin 17 to arcuate lever 13. Arcuate lever 18 is connected at its other end in a fashion which permits it to'rotate by meansof pin 15* to bracket 20 which is securely attached to angle members 6 and 7. Arcuate lever 18 is connected to link 21 by means of pin 22 and link 21 is connected to operating lever 23 by means of pin '24. Operating lever 23 is anchored to bracket 25, which in turn is fixed to yoke 25, which in turn is attached rigidly to angle members 6 and '7 and carries lugs '27 and 28 for attachment to the tractor or other device which draws the scraper.

Lugs 29 and 30 are secured to angle 6 as shown in Fig. 2 and pin 31 is firmly attached to these lugs. Spring 32, of the torsion type, is attached at its left end to pin 31 and at its right end, as shown, it extends to attach to tension spring 33, which in turn is attached to scarifier bar 8.

In operation, the device is used for scraping or backfilling in the position shown in Pig. 1 with scarifier teeth 9 drawn upward by depressing operating handle 23, To bring the scarifier teeth into scarifying position handle 23 is raised manually, rotating it about pin 34- which con nects lever 23 to bracket 25. This rotation puts a compressive force upon link 21 which causes arcuate lever 13 to rotate counter-clockwise and moves lever 16 to the left in Fig. 1 and downward. This downward motion causes scarifier bar 8 to rotate about shaft 5 until the device reaches the position shown in Fig. 3. in this position, it will be seen from Fig. 3 that lever 16 and arcuate lever 18 are joined by pin 17 in a position where force applied to the left in Fig. 3, to the tips of scarifier teeth 9, causes pin 17 to tend to move farther to the right. This motion, however, is impossible inasmuch as arcuate lever 18 rests against shaft 5. Accordingly the device is locked in operating position and the force of the earth being scarified only tends to secure the device more firmly in locked position. In other words the linkage is said to be in an over-center position and links comprising lever 16 and arcuate lever 18 make up a sort of toggle which assumes an over-center position.

'In raising operating lever 23 from the position shown in Fig. 1 to the position shown in 'Fig. 3, it can be seen that 'helical spring 32 was wound somewhat tighter and tension spring 33 was extended because of the motion of scarifier bar 8. Now when it is desired to raise the scarifier teeth into non-scarifying position, corresponding to the position shown in Fig. l, opera-ting lever 23 is brought forward and down and the action of springs 32 and 33 is such as to assist the operator in this motion by balancing the moment about shaft 5 of the mass of the As can be observed from Figs. 1 and 3, the device of I this invention can be utilized for scraping or backfilling in close proximity to a building or other obstruction, and, in addition the scarifier teeth are stowed in non-operating position in a manner to prevent interference with the filling or loading of the scraper bucket. In addition, changing the scarifier teeth from operating to non-operating position is relatively easy and convenient and can normally be accomplished without the necessity of the operator leaving his seat on the tractor.

Although the invention has been described and illustrated in detail, the same is to be understood to be by way of illustration and example only, the spirit and scope of the invention being limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A combination earth scraper and scarifier comprising a rectangular scraper bucket having a blade extending along its lower rear extremity, a curved back side, and end members attached. to said back side, a tubular shaft extending between said end members above and forward of said blade, a scarifier bar having scarifier teeth at tached thereto, said bar being arranged parallel to said shaft and rotatable with respect thereto from a position where the ends of said teeth may engage the earth in front of said blade to a position where said teeth lie in the extreme upper portion of said bucket, lever means for securing and locking said scarifier bar in said scarifier tooth earth engaging position and spring means for urging said scarifier bar to said other position.

2. A device as recited in claim 1 in which said lever means comprises a pair of link members rotatably connected together, one said link being also rotatably connected to said scarifier bar and the other said link being connected to said bucket above and forward of said shaft, said links being of such length that they form an overcenter toggle lock in the lowered position of said scarifier teeth, and lever means for actuating said pair of link members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,428,319 Brannan Sept. 5, 1922 1,929,799 Weeks Oct. 10, 1933 2,578,131 Gannon Dec. 11, 1951 2,674,818 Carnes Apr. 13, 1954 2,698,492 Justice Jan. 4, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 28,642 Great Britain Dec. 30, 1903 46,375 Norway Apr. 22, 1929 

